Archive for March, 2004
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First things first. It’s a new month, so that means the rankings over at BuzzComix have been reset. Please vote for Theater Hopper! I have a very special Oscar-related incentive sketch as a reward if you just show us the vote-love!
I don’t know how much feedback I can give you all on the Oscars last night. Cami and I spent the weekend cooped up inside the house painting our living room and dining room, then installing laminate flooring. I’m bushed! We did, however, make a solemn vow to cease all home improvement projects at 5 PM to sit down together and watch the show.
I thought it was a good ceremony this year. I felt bad for Bill Murray that he didn’t win Best Actor. But in my heart-of-hearts, I knew they had to give it to Sean Penn. If anything, I’m glad it was a “Hollywood Outsider” that took away the trophy.
I didn’t think there were too many upsets or surprises. Especially when you consider that The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King walked away with awards for each of the 11 categories it was nominated in.
Still, the biggest shocker of the night had to be Sofia Coppola winning for Best Original Screenplay. I stood up out of my chair in outrage.
Don’t get me wrong. Lost in Translation was probably my favorite movie last year. But a Best Original Screenplay winner it is not. I’ve read articles that indicated the shooting script was more of an 80 page outline. There was a lot of leeway given for Bill Murray and his particular brand of humor and improvising. Coppola should hand her Oscar over to Murray effective immediately, because without him, there would have been no movie.
I guess I was also kind of surprised that Return of The King won Best Adapted Screenplay. I guess I was really pulling more for American Splendor.
#THE REST OF THIS BLOG WAS LOST WHEN THEATER HOPPER MOVED TO WORDPRESS IN JANUARY 2009#
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On Saturday night, I went to a midnight showing of John Hughes’ Pretty in Pink. It’s the classic tale of love between a rich kid and a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Will their interclass love blossom, or will it wilt under societal pressure? It sounds timeless, doesn’t it? If you consider the number of laughs it got, I’d say no.
One scene in particular shows that Hughes aimed too high. On their first date, Andie (Molly Ringwald) and Blane (Andrew McCarthy) have a downright unpleasant time at a party where his friends harass her for being poor and then at a rock club where her friends harass him for being a preppy. When Andie gets home, she declares to her drunken, jobless father (who is curled up on the couch wearing nothing but a bathrobe, ick!) that she’s in love. The lousy setup isn’t the only reason that makes it hard to believe; McCarthy’s acting range consists of two emotions: boredom and a bug-eyed look of surprise. He’s a long way from anything that would make him close to charming.
Despite the acting and the writing, I’m not going to complain about all of the things that make it a bad film; it’s beyond that. It has entered the realm of it’s so bad it’s good. How can you not smile when Blane’s friend Steff (James Spader tells Blaine that he “wouldn’t be too jazzed about dating a girl like Andie.” The last time I heard the word “jazzed”, my mom was telling me how much she and my dad were looking forward to going on a cruise. Obviously, I’m being temporally centric and watching the movie from the perspective of 2004. It’s almost better that way. If not, I would have ignored the scene where Andie’s boss, the owner of a record store, proudly looks at the 78’s that she just stapled to the ceiling and says, “I love it. It’s so modern.” The biggest laugh comes from a scene involving an Apple IIE that would stupefy even today’s programmers.
Amidst blockbuster names like Ringwald and McCarthy, Jon Cryer steals the show as Duckie, Andie’s strangely-styled friend who is so enamored with her that he rides his BMX past her house fifty times a day. Cryer nails a scene where he lip syncs an Otis Redding tune so well that it almost makes you feel bad that he’s half a man on CBS.
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If you have it in your heart, please give Theater Hopper your support over at BuzzComix. If you won’t do it because we’ve been slipping in the polls a little, at least consider voting to take a look at a incentive sketch I’m very proud of. I drew myself as the Predator! You have to see it to believe it!
So it’s been 3 days since the Oscars and the hoopla has all died down. Now that we have some distance from the glitz and the glamour, general consensus seems to be that this was one of the most BORING Oscar telecasts ever.
Don’t get me wrong, like every other geek worth his salt, I’m beaming with pride over The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King eleven for eleven sweep. But the film purist in me cringes a little. It indicates some degree of laziness among voters. As if it was simply *easier* to hand over the statuettes to LotR for everything it was nominated in. I fear Academy members didn’t truly inspect the nominated films on an individual basis.
The problem is compounded when you consider this is less about honoring The Return of The King and more about honoring the franchise as a whole. It’s as if the Academy were applauding a bold business model instead of delivering accolades to art. I mean, whose to say if The Return of The King was any better than The Two Towers. Weren’t they all essentially ONE movie.
One movie… to rule them all?…
But it’s out of my system now. I’m onto the next thing. Such are the fickle demands of the American short attention span!
I already have my eye on Starsky & Hutch for this Friday. I’m not particularly wild about the concept. I mean, remaking old TV shows into movies died out after The Beverly Hillbillies flopped.
No, my interest is piqued because it’s being directed by Todd Phillips and I’m quite fond of his previous works Road Trip and Old School (more the latter than the former). If this picture flies, he’ll have earned himself a tidy little comedy hat trick. A rare feat for an up-and-coming director.
Besides, I hear it has a killer Will Ferrell cameo in it!
Watch this space on Friday for some Huggy Bear-style pimpin’!
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I called the Witch Doctor, he told me what to do… Vote for Theater Hopper at BuzzComix!
Not much for me to comment on today other than I’m excited to see Starsky & Hutch. Cami and I are going with a bunch of friends. I’m really looking forward to seeing it with a crowd.
The movie has been getting good reviews so far. From the sound of it, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson aren’t making fun of the franchise so much as playing it straight and letting the laughs evolve from the situations. That’s good to know. That means they’re not being cheap with it.
Of course, in full pimp attire in today’s strip, I have to pay homage to the brilliant casting of Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear. I mean, can you think of anyone better for the role? Maybe Chris Tucker before he wanted everyone to think he was the second coming of Eddie Murphy.
Long live Tha Doggfather.
It’s been a long week for me personally. The home improvement projects we started last weekend, we’re still mired in today. We’ve finished painting our living room and dining room and made some progress on the flooring we’re installing – but after working an 8 hour day, the last thing I want to do is more manual labor. I need a nice Saturday morning where I can wake up kinda late, then lean right into this and get it done. Of course, I have to meet my CPA to work on my taxes Saturday morning. Oh bitter irony!
Hopefully your weekend will be more restful than mine. Take it easy, yo.
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Let’s head on down to the ranch, partner and round up some votes for Theater Hopper at BuzzComix!
“Pimp Tom” seemed to go over so well on Friday, I decided to bring him back one last time today. But now I’ve created another problem. Who the heck is “Scurvy Joe” and what is he doing hanging out with Jared?
I picture “Scurvy Joe” as the town derelict who will do favors for people in exchange for sandwiches. He can’t handle the 9 to 5, but he’ll do anything for a pastrami on rye!
…that’s his slogan. He has it printed on his business cards…
Sorry if I seem a little disconnected. Cami and I finished up all of our home projects this weekend. Well… almost. We still have to nail in all the quarter-round over the baseboards on the floor we installed. You younger kids down care about this stuff, I’m sure. But when your weekend is composed of multiple trips to Lowe’s, tunnel vision starts to set in.
I’m glad that most of the labor is complete, but now we’re facing the task of getting rid of all the garbage we produced and cleaning everything up. Not fun.
Something that WAS fun, however (hey, remember when I used to talk about movies?!) was Starsky & Hutch, which I went to see on Friday. I really enjoyed this movie. It’s not as gut-bustingly (is that a word?) funny as Todd Phillips last movie Old School, but it has a very friendly charm about it and I can see it growing on me after repeat viewings.
You can really tell that both Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson have an affinity for the material. They’re not so much as spoofing it as paying homage to it. Will Ferrell’s cameo was nice. Probably the funniest part of the movie. I can’t wait to see him in more leading roles.
I remember reading somewhere that there were several shots in the movie composed to be exact recreations of scenes from the television show. Not being old enough to have seen the program when it was originally on the air, I couldn’t pick out which ones were which, so I guess I wasn’t meant to enjoy it on that level. Conversely, when they brought back the original Starsky & Hutch – Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul – it didn’t resonate with me. I knew I was watching something supposedly “important”, but kept thinking to myself “Who are these old guys supposed to be?”
The end credits are a real treat. There are some out takes including footage of a couple of the Ford Torinos they wrecked during a couple of the stunts.
Oh, yeah. And Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear is off the hizzle fo’ shizzle. I had no idea a man that tall could be that skinny. Snoop needs to put some meat on his bones! You’d think with all the dope he smokes, he would have consumed enough munchies-inspired Twinkies to have earned that extra “G” in Dogg.
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I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails recently asking me what’s going on with Brian Carroll and his excellent comic Instant Classic. If you’ve tried to access the site the last couple of days, you’ve noticed it isn’t there and is actually pointing you to another site completely.
Since Brian and I are pals (and since it’s kind of pointless to answer the same questions through e-mail over and over), I thought I would take the initiative to explain the situation here to the fans who read BOTH Instant Classic and Theater Hopper.
Basically, Brian’s web hosting server has been screwed ever since that myDoom virus struck a little while ago. The hosting provider has been working to install new security measures and in the meantime, has disabled the server on which Instant Classic resides. Brian is basically at the mercy of his hosting provider until he gets his ducks in a row.
You might be asking yourself “Why doesn’t Brian switch hosting providers?” Well, let’s put it this way. Brian, like many hard-working college students is a bit strapped for cash. His current set up isn’t costing him a dime, so it’s difficult for him to gather the monetary resources to stake a claim with someone else. Brian’s hinted at offering advertising through the site to cover costs, but I think he’s waiting to see how the current situation pans out.
That’s pretty much all I know at the moment. I hope this helps everyone who’s been freaking out over Brian’s absence. Believe me, I’m in the same boat with you! Hopefully we’ll catch up with Kate and Author soon!
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For any of my co-workers that might check this site, I don’t want them to think that today’s comic is an autobiographical reflection of how I view the workplace. On the contrary, I really like my job – so my take-home stress is marginal. I just wanted to do a comic with Cami in it where she had a chance to play a more positive role. This, as opposed to the more scolding archetype I’ve cast her in of late. She’s more nurturing in real life and I wanted to focus on that.
Plus, it’s fun just to do a quiet character piece from time to time!
This week’s new movie releases look pretty thin. Did they really need to make a sequel to Agent Cody Banks?
Not sure what I’m going to do with myself this weekend. Cami will be out of town visiting The Mall of America ™ in Minnesota with her Mom and her sister. Jared is going out of town visting friends and my parents are skipping town for a brief visit to Kansas City. I wish I could say I had more people to hang out with, but that’s pretty much it. I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands this weekend.
I have a haircut and an oil change for my car lined up for Saturday, but after that, who knows.
I noticed that Schindler’s List came out on DVD yesterday. Is it shameful to admit I haven’t seen it? I was 13 when it came out in theaters, and no one would take me to see it. By the time it was out on video, everyone I knew who *had* seen it said it was too depressing to sit through again. A great movie, no doubt. But too painful to experience repeatedly.
It’s probably time for me to right the wrong of never seeing Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece. I should look into that for Saturday night…
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Someone else is going to have to tell me what the hell is going on with my BuzzComix “vote for me” incentive sketch because I sure as hell can’t recall what was going through my mind as I drew it.
I suppose the same could be said about today’s comic. I don’t expect any of you to be up-to-date on the movie trailers and advertisements for kids films, but honest to God, there is a clip in the trailer for Agent Cody Banks: Destination London where we learn that Beanie Babies were developed by the CIA. At this point, a Beanie Baby dressed in a camouflage uniform lunges for some dude’s throat. It’s not a great joke to begin with, so it stands to reason the best I could come with was a lame pun to parody it with.
Is it just me, or has this been a pretty dull March for movies? There is absolutely nothing new in theaters that I want to see. What do people do when they aren’t watching movies? Read books? Talk to their family members?
Good news on the home front. It looks like Cami won’t be leaving for the Mega Mall on Saturday after all. She’s leaving Sunday and taking a day off on Monday. I recognize that’s an odd schedule to arrange, but I’m happy because Cami and I will have at least half of the weekend together. Now none of you need worry about me watching Schindler’s List alone in the dark, slitting my wrists afterward.
“But Tom! What about Sunday?” you may ask. Well, Amazon just delivered the third season of Futurama to my doorstep this week, so I will likely spend the Sabbath wallowing in its four-disc glory.
Keep checking the site today. I have a couple more messages I’m too lazy to type in at the moment.
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Just had a few things I wanted to announce – site related? You know the drill.
First, say “Hi” to our two new advertisers – Awaken The Witch and The Third Half. Awaken The Witch is a resource for all of your witchy needs! Lots of stuff for sale and a forum to boot. The Third Half is an interesting web comic that has fun tweaking reality. Check them out!
Remember, we still have lots of space open for you guys to advertise on. The banner at the top of the page is a great purchase. It appears on every page and it’s only $50 for 30 days! That’s a lot of bang for your buck, trust me. Besides, what other web sites publish their ad rates up front like we do? We’re interested in your business!
Also don’t forget the column and banner pools closer to the bottom of the comic. People can toss their ads in there at any time and they’re guaranteed coverage because we sell them by the number of times they’ve been viewed. We don’t have any ads in the column pool right now, so you can get some concentrated exposure since you won’t be sharing the space with anyone else.
I also wanted to call attention to some web sites I’ve decided to link to. Please be sure to check out Banish Ed, Life of Convenience and Questionable Content. All three are great sites and fun reads.
Lastly, “Hooray!” for Instant Classic who finally sorted out all of their sever problems! The site is up and running with a special message from Brian. No new comics as of yet, but expect more antics from Author and Kate this coming Monday!
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One of these days, Alice! Bang! Zoom! Right to the moon!
I don’t know how you guys are planning on reacting to the comic, but I’m hoping you don’t register it as a major Monday morning drag.
I mean, I know it isn’t gut-bustingly funny, but it has pathos. It’s bittersweet. Maybe I just felt like showing another side of myself today. I dunno.
I can say that today’s comic was born out of similar circumstances of my life. As I reported last week, Cami went to the Mega Mall with her Mom and sister over the weekend, leaving me to my own devices. I must be the most boring man on the planet, because I fail to see any opportunities in this situation other than watching movies that Cami didn’t want to see with me.
I didn’t make it out to the theater (I wanted to see Triplets of Bellville, but it was playing at 4:50 Sunday and Cami was coming back at 6:00), but I DID rent Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (that’s Rebellion der Maschinen to you, buddy.
I didn’t see the movie when it was in theaters last summer because I was hearing a lot of mixed reviews. Plus, I think I seriously burned some bridges in the action sci-fi realm with Cami after I dragged her to see Hulk. But it watched it on Saturday night, and I’ll say… It wasn’t bad.
I think the movie had a lot of potential, but a lot of it flew at the window thanks to logic problems and inconsistencies. For example, when Arnold steals a car at the beginning, he checks the overhead visor for the keys. Something he learned from Edward Furlong’s character in the last movie. But that model Terminator was destroyed. How does this new model know to look for the keys there?
Kristanna Loken’s T-X character can control other machines, including cars and whatnot. A car’s acceleration isn’t controlled by electronics, but I think hydraulics. So a gas accelerator wouldn’t depress. Is that right? I don’t know. But it made me question it, instantly taking me out of the movie. There were lots of little things like that.
I suppose there were still parts of the movie that I liked. The crane chase sequence was impressive. So was Arnold’s fight with the T-X in the bathroom. What really floored me was when they arrived at the bunker at Crystal Lake and the Doomsday message hadn’t gotten to the President. That was a nice Serling-esque twist.
But overall, I think I was a little bothered by how Arnold chose to play the Terminator a little lighter than he had in the last two movies. Maybe that’s just part of him getting older and not being so hard core all the time. But if you had introduced the Terminator from the third movie to the unstoppable killing machine of the first movie, it would have severely limited that films cultural impact. Aside from the crane chase, I felt most of T3 was on mute.
Anyway, movie reviews aside, Cami is back home now and we’re hanging out watching The Simpsons, The Soprano’s and Curb Your Enthusiasm like any other Sunday night. I’m glad she’s home. Hopefully with her home, I can relocate my muse in charge of the funny for Wednesday – St. Patrick’s Day! See you then!
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